Preparation is underway to transport veterans from the Navajo Nation to the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline protest near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota.

Shiprock Chapter President Duane "Chili" Yazzie said Veterans Stand for Standing Rock paid for two charter buses to deliver veterans from Shiprock to the protest site and back.

Registration for the travel started today with the goal of transporting 22 veterans from each of the five agencies on the Navajo Nation.

The group is scheduled to leave the Shiprock Chapter house on Friday and return Tuesday.

Yazzie said discussion continues about having a bus pick up veterans in Window Rock, but veterans would be responsible for their transportation to and from ShiprockOriginally published by Noel Lyn Smith for Daily Times

Navajo Nation President
“We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as they defend the encroachment of potential environmental disasters along their traditional border,” Begaye said in a statement. “In defending their traditional homeland against development that could potentially harm their lands and the purity of their natural resources, the Navajo Nation stands in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.”

The Navajo Nation knows firsthand what this is like, as Vice President Jonathan Nez noted.

“Time and again, Native American tribes have faced encroaching development upon tribal lands from industry and the federal government. Industrial interests have damaged Indian lands and left tribes with the legacy of cleaning up,” said Nez said. “From uranium mining to the recent Gold King Mine spill and Dakota Access Pipeline, these issues continue.”Source Daily Times

Courtesy Radmilla Cody Left to right, Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Chairman and NCAI President Brian Cladoosby, a Yakama Chief and Navajo President Russell Begaye at the water protectors’ camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.